A damned decent outside-in look, easy enough symbolism to basically understand for those who’ve been reading the bits here at least though there’s a lot in this I haven’t covered, perhaps not so easy to digest. Top anime.

The Twelve Kingdoms (Also known as “Record of 12 Countries” or “Jūni Kokki,” a common alternate reading) is a Japanese series of light novels written by Fuyumi Ono and illustrated by Akihiro Yamada. The first entry in the series called “The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow” was published by Kodansha in Japan in 1992; the last Kodansha volume was released in 2001. In 2012 the series was resumed under the Shinchō Bunko line from Shinchosha. Shinchosha has also begun reprinting the older volumes with new cover and interior art from Akihiro Yamada.

A new Book of “The Twelve Kingdoms”, will be released in 2016.

The Chinese mythology-influenced books were adapted into an anime television series in 2002. The Studio Pierrot production aired on Japan’s NHK from April 9, 2002 to August 30, 2003, totaling 45 episodes.

The novels were licensed in the United States by Tokyopop and the first four volumes were released between March 2007 and November 2010 as part of their Pop Fiction line. Subsequently, the English license reverted to Kodansha. The entire anime series has been released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States by Media Blasters.

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The Twelve Kingdoms is a series of novels that focus on a world inspired by Chinese mythology, where twelve different kingdoms exist under the rule of an individual chosen by the Tians. The series does not exclusively focus on one character, though the stories of Youko Nakajima, the protagonist of the first novel, and Taiki, the protagonist of the second book, are most prevalent in the series.